My Unisaw did not come with a miter gauge so I have been using the one from the Shopsmith and it has performed ok, until now. It seems my sawtop has 2 different width slots. I’ve only used the miter gauge in the right hand side slot. Yesterday I moved it to the left hand slot and it would not fit. The T-slot in the right hand slot is 23.6mm, the left hand is 22.8mm. The washer on the miter gauge is 22.9mm.

Is it normal the slots would be different? Appreciate any insight.

-- Sweeping up sawdust in Texas

7 replies so far

I don’t think they come in different widths, but it may be possible that wear on side would increase it’s width slightly. I measured mine and the were both just a few thousandths over 3/4”. Your difference is on the order of 3/100” of inch ( I think), that strikes me as a lot. It would also seem the left slot would have more wear, which makes your circumstance even more puzzling (at least to me).

OK, this won’t be of any use…but to keep my word: I measured the width of the T slot on my Uni this morning, and kept it in MM to stay consistent with your original post. The left measured 23.61 mm wide, the right measured 23.6mm, identical for all practical purposes. But there have been so many Unisaws made over the years I would bet such differences as yours (or yours versus mine) are quite normal. One other though: maybe yours has some kind of boogering up right near the end, and the rest of the slot is the 23.6mm???

Fred: That’s a good point. I went and check it out and the LH slot is pretty consistent at 22.8mm all the way from front to back. It sounds like my RH slot is the “normal” size given that both yours measure comparable to mine. I’m not sure what the deal is.

Patron: I may try that technique and see if I can get that LH T-slot more in line with the RH. Thanks!